We Come Alive 5

Inspiration

Thursday came around and the Dallas natives were starting to settle back into their former routine of life. Ethan had just gotten back to the facility from a long day at school and even longer day at baseball practice. Since he couldn't play, he was now the ball and bat boy for the team.

He used his crutches to get to his room where he saw Zane wasn't in his usual spot. He assumed he was either in the bathroom or getting a mental evaluation. Ethan climbed up to his bunk and laid back so he could start on his homework that was in his book bag on his back still. Before Ethan could even get the second strap from around his arm, he saw Craig strutting into the room with a small pouch in his hand.

"What's that?" Ethan asked, watching Craig move carefully through the room.

Craig tossed the pouch up to him. Ethan caught it with his left hand and opened it with his right. When he glanced inside, he smirked seeing loose change and candy inside.

"What the hell is this from?" Ethan asked, closing it and tossing it back. "What? You steal from a toddler?"

Craig rolled his eyes, getting onto the bed with him in a swift movement. "Nah. It's from my first payment from the new community service program I'm in. Well, not a payment but what I found. The candy's good. A little girl gave it to me when she walked past us on the sidewalk. She felt bad for me."

Ethan nodded his head as he listened, opening up his notebook and writing out the beginning of the essay he needed by the end of the week.

"Where's Zane?" Ethan asked, scribbling down his thoughts on the page.

Craig looked at the window where the silent boy usually sat. "He's in the medical wing. He got into a brawl earlier."

Ethan dropped his pencil and looked at Craig in disbelief. "You're fucking kidding me. Who was bothering him?"

Craig shook his head and scoffed. "Dude, it was over something stupid. It was...Zane just snapped. He's usually so quiet and shit, but he beat that guy to a bloody pulp. The only way to stop him was one of the guy's friends stabbing him with a sharpened toothbrush or something. Got him right in the side. I helped the guards pull Zane off of him. He'll probably be back next week or something." Craig shrugged. "Anyway, how was practice?"

Ethan sighed, knowing Craig was just someone who flowed from one subject to the next no matter the topic. "It was fine. You're looking at the new ball boy."

Craig chuckled clapping a hand on Ethan's back. "Nice."

"Yeah. We got a state game next Saturday." Ethan mentioned. "We lost our best player, though. He...he got shot and...-"

"It's okay." Craig interrupted. "You ain't gotta talk about it if you don't wanna. You know what college you're going to?"

"I don't even know if I'm going to get out of here in time." Ethan scoffed, giving up on writing his essay and setting the notebook to the side. "If I'm living in here in the summer, then probably not. I'm not going to make it in time."

Craig leaned his head back against the wall that their backs were against. "Where your friends going?"

"One's going to Texas A&M right now. The others are going to Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, and Huston. My one friend who didn't go to college this year but is going next year is trying to hear back from Florida, and the youngest out of our group is going to go into his senior year next year then go to Clemson."

"Jesus," Craig sighed, "Y'all that good at football? Shit, I went to a community college. Didn't even finish it either."

Ethan glanced at him. "Why not?"